The Dark Knight Rises... Thoughts
[Note: Surprisingly I didn't spoil as much as I thought I would. Still, I do spoil a lot, so if you haven't seen the movie and don't want to be spoiled, don't read this.]
As usual I'm late to the ball game when it comes to movies. I journeyed to Logan this week to see some folks and decompress and while there I had the chance to catch
The Dark Knight Rises - just in time actually as it was out of the theaters only two days after I saw it. What follows is a review. A review full of spoilers so if you haven't seen it then I wouldn't read this because I am going to spoil the shit out of this movie.
I could start with a synopsis. In fact I tried twice, the first time was going to blow this blog into a novella easily, the second attempt a respectable short story. This plot is huge. There's a lot going on in this movie, and if you're not familiar with the full franchise already you're simply going to be out of the loop. We are introduced to the villain very early in this film, much like we were
The Dark Knight. Bane is the big bad here, and what a big bad he is. Tom Hardy is huge. His size is reminiscent of the film
Bronson, but his performance is much more calculating here. With a voice that sounds like a cross between Satan and Howdy Doody, Bane doesn't just intimidate the audience with his size, but his very presence. Humanity is a commodity to this character, and a very cheap one at that. We are also introduced to Selena Kyle, who robs a crippled, shut in Bruce Wayne early in the film. As well as a young cop named Blake, who has deduced that Bruce Wayne is really the Batman, and suspects the story about Batman killing Harvey Dent is a lie.
The movie takes place 8 years after
The Dark Knight, the lie about Harvey Dent helped enact a law that has put most of the criminals in Gotham into prison. This is where Commissioner Jim Gordon, Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth comes in. Gordon feels a tremendous amount of guilt and wants to reveal the truth about Batman rescuing his son from a deranged Harvey. Bruce is still feeling the pain from Rachel Dawes death only wants to waste away in his mansion as he's not needed as Batman any more. Alfred still feels the guilt about lying to Bruce by burning a note from Rachel that revealed her love for Harvey Dent just before she died.
Bruce does come to life. After Gordon is shot while exploring the sewers looking for suspects involved in a shooting, he reveals a huge network underground where Bane and his mercenaries set up shop. Bane is ostensibly working for Bruce Wayne's competitor Dagget who has Bane use some stolen fingerprints and strong arm tactics to take control of the Gotham City Stock Exchange and bankrupt Bruce through some bad trades. In attempt to save his company he gives up control to a business partner Miranda Tate, who has invested heavily in his fusion project. All of this is enough to get the Batman active again, but it doesn't last. In a scene that fan-boys have been crying out for for 20 years Bane and Batman fight and it ends, as you would predict, with Bane breaking Batman's back. Then he plops him into a prison that is little more than a hole in the ground and taunts him with what he's about to do to Batman's beloved city, revealing that he is all that remains of the League of Shadows.
Bane takes control of the city. He lures the police force into the tunnels then buries all of the exits. He also destroy's all but one bridge out of town and informs the city that he will nuke it if anybody interferes. He's taken the the fusion core and had the physicist from the beginning of the film arm it as a nuclear device, then to be sure he kills the
physicist. He then "turns" the city back over to the populace, by letting all the convicts out of prison it becomes a police state ruled over by the former cons and Bane's mercenaries.
It's here where the theme of the film comes to the front like a huge mallet. Bruce, battered and broken, slowly heals then begins to attempt to make the climb out of the pit. The city devolves into further madness. Bruce tries again and again to escape the pit ect.
Now you can guess how it ends. I won't give away the entire ending, but Gotham is saved, and Nolan does manage to end it in such a way that Bruce Wayne is no longer Batman. How he completes both of these tasks shouldn't be too hard to guess, with a little foresight anyway.
The movie's good in all ways that a movie should be: it's fast paced, the acting and dialogue works really well for the most part, it has incredibly compelling characters (particularly Bane), and the cinematography and style is what you've come to expect in a Christopher Nolan Batman movie. It's not perfect though.
While it may seem nit picky, and even disingenuous to compare it to
The Dark Knight, which in and of itself wasn't perfect (but near enough) but still an outstanding achievement of a movie. It's actually because of the previous film that the flaws in this movie are all that more apparent.
First off the plot. This is a big plot. There's so much going on that it's almost too much, even for the nearly three hour run time of the film. Some things are hand waved, like Blake having deduced that Bruce Wayne was the Batman, or even how Bane and his mercenaries manage to entrench themselves into the city in the capacity they do. This could easily have been stretched out into 3 1/2 hours, or even 4, which means it actually could have been two separate films. The plot is epic, but it's really too much for the movie we've been given.
That being said, there are several characters who are barely in the film. Pennyworth disappears for about 2/3rds the film, Jim Gordon is shot fairly quickly into the movie and only makes the occasional appearance for about the same amount of time as Pennyworth. And while Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fantastic, his character Blake really could have used some fleshing out. Not that there isn't character development, it's just somethings are hand-waved and it seems a bit of a let down with the character. The same goes for Lucius Fox, Miranda Tate, and Selena Kyle. Yes they get screen time, but their arcs seem shallow because there's just too much going on.
Now, as for implied propaganda. I can see it, but I don't. Not really. This isn't about class warfare, nor is it implying that we are better off under the rule of the wealthy, far from it in fact. Certainly those things are touched upon, but likening Bane to a socialist or a agent of reform who fails because he uses terrorist tactics ignores what Bane's actual goals are. He's not interested in turning the city over to the masses, or social upheaval, he's only interested in it's destruction. The only reason he doesn't merely nuke the city immediately after getting control of the reactor is because he wants to taunt Bruce Wayne. He's only goal is to finish what was started in the first film and that is the utter destruction of Gotham, because that's what Ra's al Ghul wanted.
The movie has other themes though, those that are more important in my opinion: obligation, honesty, perseverance. And truthfully the answers aren't all cut and dry. At what point does one's obligation to society supersede one's obligation to one's self? If a lie has to be told in order for society to be better, is it the right thing to do? These are questions the film asks, and quite honestly I'm not sure it answers in any conclusive way.
This movie isn't perfect, and in fact it, it is about the same in quality as
Batman Begins, which isn't a bad thing at all. It bookends the series nicely with that movie and it definitely brings closure to the franchise. That being said, this is the first of the franchise that I hope for a director's cut right when it's released on DVD.
Labels: Batman, Christopher Nolan, Movie Reviews
The Dark Knight or "Why so serious?"
The second film in the new Batman franchise, like the second film of the X-men, or Spiderman franchises surpasses the first.
Batman Begins sets up the franchise with a fairly by the numbers comic book film. It shows the origins and early triumphs of the character while delivering a fairly memorable ending for the main villain and a set up for the second movie.
We had to wait for three years for
The Dark Knight, and sit through another film entirely by Christopher Nolan about magicians. This movie (to be covered later) would be a better film than
Batman Begins, but only just.
The Dark Knight however surpasses both of the previous films.
The movie opens up with a bank heist in progress. The perpetrators of the crime all sport clown masks and it become apparent very quickly that the mastermind behind the robbery has asked them to kill each other to reduce the amount of ways the money has to be split. Of course by the end of the robbery only one man is left standing and he reveals himself to be none other than the Joker.
Yet with this opening, it doesn't feel like a comic book movie. Previous films would show the origins of the villain, set up his modus operandi.
The Dark Knight does no such thing. It shows you what kind of man The Joker is, one who thrives on chaos, but it's only a seed and even though that seed grows through out the movie you never see whom or what planted it.
The film takes place 6 months after the first one. The criminals in Gotham have taken to ground because of Batman and a new district attorney Harvey Dent. Bruce Wayne's company is thriving under the direction of Lucius Fox, and he and Alfred spend time waiting for Wayne Manor to be rebuilt in a luxurious penthouse suite. In Harvey Dent, Bruce sees hope for the city and himself in that he may soon be able to hang up his mask and cape and enjoy life. Alas, for both them: The Joker.
The movie plays like a big budget action-crime drama. If it weren't the Batman and the Joker on your screen you wouldn't think of it as a comic book film at all. The Joker (played by Heath Ledger in an amazing portrayal) seeds chaos by slowly taking over the different crime syndicates in Gotham and threatening Batman the only way he can, through the lives of innocents. The Joker revels in the torture and fear he reaps his character can be summed up with a quote:
"Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... little emotions. In... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?"
He's mad, maniacal and sociopathic. The criminals soon realize that what they have unleashed on the city was far worse than the Batman.
The movie is fairly methodical. It lays its plot out slowly, bit by bit and it's an intricate plot, where when one thread reaches an end another begins. The Joker plays cat and mouse with Lt. Gordon, Batman and Harvey Dent. Leading them in one direction while setting up the next joke in the other. Batman looks for an endgame while Lt. Gordon and Harvey Dent search for a way to capture the villain. When they finally do, they discover that he's in complete control of the situation and has been all along. He wanted to get captured to set up the next phase of his plans. He hopes to bring down Dent, the new hope of Gotham, and discredit Batman.
The films ends as you would expect, a confrontation with the Joker followed by another shorter confrontation with Two-Face (the horrifically burned Dent.) It's not uplifting though. The good guys (in this case the aforementioned Batman, Lt. Gordon and Harvey Dent) do not save the day completely. The Joker succeeds in his plan to destroy the legitimacy of law and structure and by the end of the film you are made painfully aware that he has won.
This film is a tremendous leap in what a comic book film can be. It has some of the cliches (there are one liners here that for good or ill smack of the comic book movie) but those cliches are inherit to the characters more than anything. More so than the first movie, you can believe this one. There's a legitimacy to it. Swap out the Batman and the Joker for different characters and this would have been a serious crime drama, much like
The Departed. Well almost....
The film has it's problems, and most are inherit to the characters. Christian Bale sounds like he swallowed gravel before each scene as Batman (this is, I think a fault of what we the audience think Batman should sound like.) Some of the dialogue gets a bit heady in spots. The film almost, ALMOST takes the route of having the hero "lose" his powers (this is the scene where Bruce Wayne puts away the costume to out himself.) This lasts all of about 10 minutes before he's racing through the streets again as Batman to save the day. So it's nice to see them not play with what has become a cliche in the second film of comic book movie franchises. The action in a couple of spots screams something out of a comic book movie (or mindless action film at the very least.) But all of this is trivial honestly. The movie surpasses the cliches and the niggling little problems and comes out as an incredible film on all counts.
It ends on a down note... but there's something inspiring never the less with the last line.
"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight."
Labels: Christopher Nolan, Comic book films, Movie Reviews
My Review of Batman Begins, a retrospective.
Batman Begins marks a reboot for the Batman franchise on film. The previous franchise had two well done films (though still very grounded in the realm of the comic) and two films that... well, to be frankly honest were abominations to the character.
Batman Begins is fresh. It's settled in realm of realism that lends a bit of legitimacy to the idea of the character. Christopher Nolan first came into the limelight with his film
Memento, a psychological labyrinth where the audience remained as lost as the character until near the last 10 minutes of the movie. It wowed people. Made folks stand up and take notice of this up and coming director. With his next film
Insomnia he created a remake of a Swedish film (of the same name) that also delved into the psyche of the mind. That he would tackle the Batman franchise is, in many ways, a boon. He wanted to keep it real, wanted it to be easy for the audience to suspend their disbelief (and for the most part he succeeded.) But most of all it would seem he wanted to get back to the roots of the character as a detective (a detective in a cape sure, but a detective never the less.)
Batman Begins, while being very different than the other comic book films that had been released before it (and for the most part since) is still very much a first film in a series of comic book films. It deals with the hero's origins. What made him what he has become. Why he fights the way he does. Who are his friends (and enemies) and why. The movie does this in a fairly unique fashion (especially when compared to the
Hulk, or
Spiderman or even the
Punisher) but it still follows the tropes that have been set down before it. We see the training sequences with the League of Shadows and we believe it. Not because it's realistic (far from it) but because the characters seem so invested in what they are doing. That's the secret in making a successful comic book film. It's why
Iron Man works, it's why the first two Spiderman films work. The characters believe it, and because they do, you as the viewer also do as well.
After the first half hour we get Bruce Wayne creating the Batman bit by bit, culminating with him taking down Falcone at the docks. Now the criminals and the citizens know this guy is out there, but of course we learn of a bigger plot. Nolan loves to weave his plots into an intricate fabric.
Memento does this, as do all of his other films since (I cannot speak of the one he made before
Memento as I've never seen it.) Learning that Dr. Crane (the Scarecrow) has been smuggling drugs into the city for another purpose, and that purpose seems quite sinsister (more so than simply making a buck.) We learn that the main villain Ra's al Ghul, thought to be dead after Bruce Wayne destroys his mountain fortress, is alive and well (he lied about his identity) and is going to unleash chaos on Gotham City. The only thing.... all of this is almost expected. Not who the villain may be, or what the plot is, but the fact that there's something more going on. Many similar films do this (both comic and simple action films.) It's a cliche, yet I don't entirely mind that it's a cliche. We the audience have come to expect it.
Yet.
Burning down Wayne Manor and the fantastic action sequence on the train takes the film over the top. Still firmly grounds it in the realm of the comic book. In many ways, that's actually a good thing. For a first film as part of a larger franchise you want this. You want it to still feel like it's something from it's source media. You're playing to fan boys and folks who liked the original Batman movie by Tim Burton. They need that firmly grounded comic book reality, especially by the films end (it doesn't hurt making it a Hollywood summer action flick either.) Butwhy though? Well honestly it lets us the audience know that the franchise is 1) in good hands with somebody who respects the source material and 2) gives us a good footing for the inevitable sequel.
Batman Begins at the time of its release was probably the best comic source film made. It has been surpassed by its own sequel
The Dark Knight and
Iron Man, but it's still a fun romp, a wild ride worth watching. The film is dark, but not too dark. It has crazy action sequences but doesn't get carried away really until near the end. It has a memorable villain and plays to the tropes only enough to ground itself in the source material, but otherwise makes it easy for the audience to suspend their disbelief.
Worth owning in my opinion.
Labels: Christopher Nolan, Comic book films, Movie Reviews
